Brereton-Diaz walks on water as Rovers take derby honours
TONY MOWBRAY’S Blackburn water babes are looking to make a promotion splash after coming out on top in this tempestuous Lancashire derby.
With an average age of about 23, yesterday’s starting line-up was easily the youngest in the Championship.
And in monsoon conditions which at times looked like bringing the game to a premature end Rovers’ youngsters came of age to strengthen their claims for a promotion play-off spot.
Red-hot Chile star Ben Brereton-Diaz, 22, came up with the goal to knock the stuffing out of their neighbours who had made it a real scrap as hostilities threatened to boil over.
Reda Khadra wriggled free in the
53rd minute to send in the perfect cross for BreretonDiaz to glance a header past Daniel Iversen for his 17th league goal of the season.
Mowbray will be hoping that the Venkys, the club’s owners, hold their nerve during the January transfer window with a number of Premier League clubs circling.
In the summer they sold Adam Armstrong to Southampton after a
28-goal haul in the Championship.
But Brereton-Diaz has filled the void with Rovers looking to return to the Premier League after a 10-year absence.
He said: “I would like to give Ben a new contract. The football club has to grow. He is a great kid who works really hard. If Ben goes, my first question will be how much will I be getting to spend?”
Preston may be well off the promotion pace but they can be a handful as proved by beating Bournemouth and drawing last week with Fulham. They had strong claims for an 82nd-minute penalty for a handball against Ryan Nyambe but that was waved away by referee Gavin Ward, who upset both managers.
Preston boss Frankie McAvoy said: “I’ve seen the incident back and the lad’s hand is well away from his body.
“I didn’t think there was much in the game. The one bit of quality was Brereton-Diaz’s header.”
A scrappy first half had ended with Mowbray booked after reacting angrily to Ward seemingly changing his mind after initially giving his side the ball after accidentally blocking a run by Joe Rothwell.
Not that the warning cooled his temper, the Rovers boss ferociously tossing his bottle of water to the ground.
His mood would have been even darker except for keeper Aynsley Pears pulling off a smart save at his near post, after Ched Evans had connected with a 33rd-minute low corner from Ben Whiteman which took Rovers by surprise.
But when he takes a look at the league table with Rovers fourth life won’t seem so bad for the Championship’s longest-serving boss.
BLACKBURN: Pears 7; Lenihan 7, Van Hecke 7, Wharton 7; Nyambe 6, Travis
6, Rothwell 6 (Edun 85th), Pickering 7; Buckley 6 (Johnson (66th) 6); Khadra 7 (Dolan 76th), Brereton-Diaz 7
PRESTON: Iversen 6; Storey 6, Lindsay
7, Cunningham 7 (Sinclair 78th); Olosunde 6 (Ledson 82nd), McCann 6 (Johnson 78th), Whiteman 7, Earl 6; Browne 7; Evans 7, Riis 6
STAR MAN: Ben Brereton-Diaz
REF: G Ward